Judging from the number of them I saw at archon last week, I'd guess that tablet computers arw more popular with intelligent people than I'd thought. Huh. I'd had them pegged as toys for people who grew up watching STTNG and thought the PADDs were awesome.

OK, so maybe I was wrong, or those things started out that way bot people found more uses for them.

Anyway, I was sort of thinking about getting a tablet and I have limited funds to work with. So I was looking at something low cost that I could save up for in a couple months or snag at a christmas sale.

I saw this and wanted to ask people familiar with tablets and whose opinions I'd be inclined to have some faith in about it:

amiga.com/shop/?prod_id=4

Is this a good tablet? Is it worth 200$ I'm inclined to respect the opinions of people here more often than I would the opinions of the average person.

You can't go wrong with the iPad or iPad2. I've had both and liked them, but they might be out of your price range. I would guess that it needs to have a solid pdf reader. Check the applications that are available for the operating system the tablet has. You want a capacitive touchscreen rather than a resistive one. If you are dealing with a 9 inch screen, at least 1024xs768 resolution or whatever is closest for the tablet's aspect ratio. Preferably with a memory card slot of some kind for expansion purposes.

And if at all possible, find someone who has one and try it out. At the very least, check the reviews for it.

Thanks, Greg, I looked all over and found no reviews for the amiga tablet yet, talk about new...

I had read capacitive screens were better, you confirmed it. I'm looking ay a really cheap tablet with a resistive screen BUT it has a keyboard and folding case for it that would mean I didn't need to use the touch screen.

There seem to be a lotta tablets out there now, but you were right about price. I'm looking at under 200$ which is as far s I can go under my circumstances.

As long ad is runs droid I should be able to get apps for it.

If you're buying a tablet, you're buying it because you want a tablet, not because you want an inconvenient, underpowered laptop (i.e. tablet with keyboard and case). A tablet is meant to be used with your fingers, so a quality touch interface is a must.

If I think I'll need my laptop, I pack my laptop. If not, I pack the iPad.

If US$200 is your hard limit and you are looking at an Amiga, then I guess this is the one you are looking at:

amiga.com/shop/?prod_id=4

I think a larger screen would be good (ipad is 9.7 inches) for long-term reading, especially of letter-format pdfs. It may not sound like much, but an 8 inch is only about 70 percent of the area of a 9.7 inch.

I saw these with a quick search. I have no clue about them, so do not count this as a recommendation:

www.ctobay.com/eken-m008-97-inch-android...ifiwebcam_p8098.html

www.pandawill.com/notebook-tablet-pc-mid...android-os-c306.html

Thanks for the info, greg. I appreciate you taking your time to do that to help me.

Yes, the amiga you mentioned was the one I linked to. Thje other links, well I'd looked at the eken. The second link was very useful and I'm going to trawl it for leads.

Really, thought, I guess I'm not sure if I want a small laptop or a tablet. I've never gowned anything but a desktop and am not sure what mobile would be good. I like the laptop for the fact it folds shut to protect the fragile screen, I'm not sure I'd like a tablet unless it had a capitance touchscreen and those cost more...

I'll keep looking around, maybe I'll get a netbook, a laptop or a tablet if I find one that feels right to me. Thanks again for the advice, I'll keep it in mind.

BTW, this little tablet seems to keep popping up whenever I look for a cheap one, they seem to be common and have a fairly mixed set of reviews. Some of the common negatives seem to be from people getting fake ones.

zenithink.us/new-zenithink-2-zt-180-andr...-512mb-ram-p-34.html

The good news is it has a 10.1" screen, fairly good resolution,(1024x600) and I can buy it as a combo on amazon with a case, keyboard and a nice big fat juicy 16GB memory card for under 200$

The bad thing is the resistance screen...

Lucked into a 16gb HP tablet, damn near brand new. Amazed at what they heavy little slab can do. Already loaded the new EABA power rules into it for easier perusal.

BTW, I'm no damn munchkin, I don;t think like one and so I may not be the best person to look for munchkin holes in the rules but I'm going to review it. LMAO at the violet comment st the end of 6.82.

BTW, the adobe on my touchpad doesn't show the blurb when I touch the yellow tag and doesn't search, but it's still pretty amazing for someone who never had a tablet before. I don;t care if HP dropped it, and anyway there's a rumor it might be a ploy to spark interest in a continuation of the model.

Now you need to hit up the Android store and see what sort of Acrobat apps and such are available. If it is anything like iTunes there will be "lite" versions of many products for free so you can test them out. See which ones work best for your browsing needs.

And congrats on getting a nice tablet. Hope it works out for you.

Thanks, Greg. but the HP touchpad runs webos, not android. I don't know enough yet about the situation to decide what to do so I',m being patient lest I turn my lovely new tablet into a paperweight.

Some say androis rules, some say it suckks. Many agree that webos is good but that HP screwed the pooch on it. I assume android apps won't run on webos. I hear people are working on a version of android from the touchpad, but I'd be leery of getting something that may not work and ruining the tablet.

I would love a better pdf reader, tha's for damn sure. The ability to search is very, very useful, as is highlighting.
Still I'm amazed at this thing, even as I find it's limits...